The passing last week of a basketball legend from the University of West Virginia and a broadcasting legend with the Salt Lake City Jazz, Rod “Hot Rod” Hundley reminded me that all things do come to an end. Rod preceded Hall of Famer Jerry West at the University of West Virginia.
Rod and I met at a Final Four when I was the Head Coach at UNLV. We instantly enjoyed each other’s company. Probably due to my enjoyment of his hilarious anecdotes from his basketball career. He was a guy with great notoriety who never got too carried away by it.
He shared with me on more than one occasion that when Jerry West arrived on campus his celebrity days would be fading into the sunset. “Zeke” from Cabin Creek was something special. Graduation came around quickly and Rod went of to be a member of the Minneapolis Lakers, soon to land in Los Angeles.
He was a great ball handler and passer that loved to run the fastbreak and chalk up another assist—his bread and butter. He could score, but the game was played a little differently in the late 50’s and 60’s. Every team had two guards who shared ball-handling duties. There were no designated point guards. Rod’s running mate was Bob “Slick” Leonard, former star at the University of Indiana.
In 1960, this tandem added a third person, Jerry West, who was fresh off an Olympic Gold Medal experience in Rome. Along with his career opponent-to-be in the NBA, Oscar Robertson, he led an Olympic team that demolished the field.
Rod told me his version of West’s arrival in L.A. It went something like this:
“Fred Schaus, Laker Coach and former West Virginia University
coach, decided that West wouldn’t start. After all he had a veteran
duo in Hundley and Leonard. Rod said he knew after two practices
that ‘West was the best.’ Schaus stuck to his guns for a few games
and relented when it was too ridiculous not to.”
Rod Hundley, master ball-handler and wordsmith. I would give a lot to have one last conversation. I know you are entertaining someone somewhere.
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